UPDATE: From True Hoop: "ESPN.com has looked into this and it appears that Lewis and his agent, Tony Dutt, did not "mishandle" the paperwork for his ETO (Early Termination Option) and he is indeed a free agent starting July 1."

Why in God's name did I believe Peter Vecsey?! (thanks for the head's up, Nussbaum)

17 comments:

Will this make it easier to trade Rashard, hopefully yes. Then let's trade him, Wilcox, Swift or Petro, Earl Watson, and the next two years 1st round picks for Kobe or Garnett. for a team of Ridnour, Ray Allen, Durant, Garnett, Swift or Petro, or Ridnour, Ray Allen, Kobe, Durant, Swift or Petro with Collison, Gelable, Sene, and Wilkins on the bench.Also, i'm excited we have two 2nd round picks, this is the year to have them. Hopefully we can get a good point guard.

Don't think you'll be getting Kobe with that package, considering that the Lakers would be dealing what is arguably the best player in the league for a bunch of stuff the Sonics are trying to throw away. Rashard's a very good player, but the Lakers would be much worse off next year with that bunch. If Kobe's getting traded, the Lakers have to get back something more than that (i.e., the #2 pick).

According to Henry Abbott at True Hoop, espn's people looked into the story and there isn't a story there after all. According to espn, Rashard will be a free agent come July 1 as everyone expected.

Which, in a way, is good. I don't think having a pissed off guy on your roster for two seasons is all that great for the team. Conversely, it would be a lot easier to deal Lewis with his old contract rather than his new one, but wouldn't he be ticked at the team that acquired him? Seems like a no-win situation no matter how you slice it.

The Biz is right, at least as I understand it. From what I've read, if the Magic pursue Rashard, they'll have to renounce their rights to Darko to do it (so they can get under the cap), unless they do a sign and trade with the Sonics. Either way,

Lewis+Magic=No DarkoDarko+Magic=No Lewis

Let's hope the Magic decide to keep Darko and forego Rashard, because there's no way in hell I want to be on the hook for his contract for the next five years.

I heard a rumor that 'Shard was willing to take less money to play in Orlando. I don't know how true it is, though.Another rumor has the Magic shipping out Hedo Turkoglu and his ridiculous deal to free up the cap space to get Darko and 'Shard. Again, I have no idea how true that is. Is it possible to have a cross-continental rivalry?

Rashard Lewis and Kevin Durant play the same position (small forward). If the Sonics trade him they need to get a real center or point-guard. Durant will be one of the elite dunkadelic-swingmen in the NBA along with Kobe, LeBron, Vince, and T-Mac. The problem is that there are no centers like Greg Oden available. Rashard Lewis might be enough to get a point-guard. The Sonics should trade Rashard Lewis and Luke Ridenour and next years #1 pick to Washington for Gilbert Arenas.

Anonymous.... you're crazy if you think Washington will trade Agent Zero for anything less than top 10 player in the league. In fact on the flip side the Bullets... er... the Wizards are look to deal the human pogo stick Antwan Jamison who is the last season of his contract and will make a cool 16.3 million next season.

Now here's an idea, though not a great one, sign and trade Lewis along with Watson to the Wizard for Jamison and Daniels. It doesn't necessary help the sonics much this season, but Jamison can play the four (even though he's a twiner at the 3 and 4) and has done so for may years. We all know that A.D. can run the Sonics offense no matter who the new coach is (hopefully Carlisle). Plus after the 07-08 they'd have 16 million coming off the cap, they could even package that during the season to jump start the rebuilding process or pocket the saving to resign any of the core players they want to keep around Durrant.

I like the Jamison idea, but as much as we love AD here, I don't think either he or Luke would be happy with that deal, simply because they both think they are better than the other guy. The Sonics are sort of at a crossroads with Ridnour - they have to either give him the car keys, or send him packing. They can't have guys behind him that are capable of starting, because inevitably the time will come when Carlesimo or Casey goes with the vet in the 4th quarter and everyone starts talking about how Frodo feels about it. The other problem with the deal, from Washington's point of view, is that they already have Caron Butler, who can score just as well as Rashard and plays the same position.

I like the idea of dealing Watson though; I'm wondering when we're going to start his name in rumors, since he's one of the big dominoes in this whole process.

How about Ray Allen and Earl Watson for Jason Kidd and Antoine Wright? That way, both teams get to change things up, and since the Nets want to get rid of Carter, this gives them a good replacement. Wright is very young, but he could be a starter at the 2 if the Sonics can't get someone in the draft to replace Ray.

I agree in the fact that we aren't considering dealing ray enough. As much as we all love him, he isn't going to help us in the long term considering his age and defensive liablity.

With Ray and Rashard, along with a bunch of young centers, and other role players like watson and wilcox, the sonics are really in a good position to make some huge trades and build around our young talent. I hope Presti is heavily considering this, although it might be bad news for keeping the supes in seattle.